Pa. man pleads guilty to threatening to blow up police stations

YORK, Pa. — A man who called the York Newspaper Company threatening to bomb three county police departments pleaded guilty Thursday, and his case was transferred into York County mental health treatment court.

Danny Wire, 59, of the 200 block of East King Street in York, entered guilty pleas to three felony counts of making bomb threats and a single misdemeanor charge of harassment.

Three counts of risking a catastrophe and one count of reckless endangerment were dismissed at the district court level in January.

According to Northern York County Regional Police reports, Wire called the newspaper headquarters on Loucks Road on Dec. 3, 2013.

Instead of speaking with a reporter, he spoke with a circulation manager and complained to her about the police.

Wire called back later and reached the circulation manager's voice mail. Police reports stated he said he was going to plant a bomb at the Northern York County Regional Police Department "as revenge against the police department."

He also said, "Take my word, by the end of the week I will take all the regional cops out."

In the recording, which was shared with police, Wire identified himself as a member of a new Irish terrorist group. He also threatened to blow up the Springettsbury Township Police Department and the Pennsylvania State Police barracks.

Wire was identified through his prepaid cellphone account and tracked by his phone's hits on cell towers in the county, according to reports.

Wire was located at a city recycling company, where he was known to drop off cans, two days after making the threats. When questioned, Wire told police he made the calls because he is "psychotic."

According to court documents, Wire said he has been diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Thursday, Judge John S. Kennedy informed Wire that he faced a maximum sentence of 27 years in prison.